H x W x D: 8.1 × 1.5 × 2.2 cm (3 3/16 × 9/16 × 7/8 in)
Type:
Jewelry and Ornament
Origin:
China
Date:
475-221 BCE
Period:
Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period
Description:
Girdle hook; in form of quadrilateral, curved stem ending in barely outlined, inverted dragon head; remains of projecting stud on reverse; iridescent white on one side only, remainder is decomposed, chalky white with clay colored coating and some reddish brown, earth incrustations. (Many chips and damages, one break on stud.)
Acquired with a box, now lost.
Provenance:
To 1915
Abel William Bahr (1877–1959), New York, NY, to 1915 [1]
From 1915 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919), purchased from Abel William Bahr, New York, NY, in 1915 [2]
From 1920
The Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 759, p. 167, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Abel William Bahr (1877–1959) was a collector and dealer born in Shanghai, China. After he left Shanghai in 1910, he lived, at various points in time, in London; Montreal; and Ridgefield, Connecticut. He established a gallery in New York City in 1920.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer’s gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
